#she's not SAS

[sleepyconfusedpotato]

Hello. I'm a new follower.

I wonder if you could list all of Charlotte's nicknames? There seems to be a bunch! And how did Charlotte comes to terms with the nick "Jade" in the military? Perhaps there is a backstop behind it? (Considering most callsigns tend to have backstory)

Hello there! 👋

To clear things up, Jade is not a military personnel. She's not a soldier! She didn't go to the army or SAS or any of the formal military route.

She's an MI6 field agent. And her nickname/callsign doesn't really have a backstory/silly origin like the military gives to soldiers. Her callsign came from a special division inside MI6 called "Jewels" where the members are assigned callsigns based on names of gemstones.

Charlotte's adoptive parents used to belong in the same group! Her mother had the callsign 'Ruby' and her father had the callsign 'Garnet'.

Thank you for asking!

[ahotpeaceofshit]

[bogleech]

I like how Dandadan sets the audience up to think Turbo Granny is just a pervert because she chases men, taunts them obscenely and steals their dicks and it seems played for entirely just freaky shock comedy until the reveal that she's (spoiler and content warning)

A yokai acting on the aimless collective wrath of multiple rape and murder victims (who form their own ghost that considers her its grandma) :(

[minyardsdarling]

thinking about andrew who knows quite a bit about the lgbt community and labels from when he was trying to figure himself out. thinking about him knowing vaguely what asexual means, but only in the sex-repulsed sense (because let’s be honest, that’s the kind of asexuality that gets attention in media). thinking about neil figuring out that he’s aspec and telling andrew because he promised no more lies. thinking about andrew hearing this and barely being able to hold himself together, saying “okay” and blowing cigarette smoke in neil’s face because if he tries to say any more words he’ll have a panic attack. thinking about andrew who manages to hold himself together until he’s alone, and then he’s hyperventilating and dry-heaving and overthinking every time he and neil have ever done anything because neil said yes, he said yes, but what if he was only saying yes because he thought he had to? what if he was only saying yes because he felt obligated because of the deal they’d made? what if he was only saying yes because he was afraid of andrew and thought andrew might hurt him if he said no? thinking about andrew who has always promised himself that he would never be like them, and yet here he is.

(this could all be solved with communication if andrew had just asked neil what he meant by asexual but these boys are shit at communication)

[jet-set-go-go]

HUNGER HURTS.

[evellynssocbrainrot]

Daily reminder that both Kaz and Inej have touch aversion. Not just Kaz.

[fastafeijoa]

Chaotic creatures and Haskill!

[washmouthing]

Polle says: Looking Fresh! Staying presentable is important for company reputation!

[tricoufamily]

just some ivy league kids trying to figure out necromancy

[aq2003]

has anyone gotten the idea that odysseus' storyline in hades 2 is a depiction/exploration of trauma over his SA and how he's blaming himself for things that were out of his control? because that's the impression i'm getting from what i've seen. he talks about "goddesses" as his "greatest weakness" and that "he's not one to say no to them"...

when mel invites him to the bath, he brings up mortals having different standards for intimacy than gods and how it usually has a more romantic/sexual connotation. she then asks if he's uncomfortable and he has a startled reaction and brings up circe and calypso again (but never actually by name)

(this isn't ship/romance bait btw. odysseus knew mel as a kid and they're stated in-game to have a sibling/uncle-niece relationship)

also he grew apart from penelope after his return, but the game makes a point of showing that his love for penelope and telemachus is what drove him on at all so that element of his character isn't brought into question

[shanastoryteller]

Shana, your tags on this post ...I need to know more! What exactly was the plan for Supernatural season 3 if it hasn't been for the writer's strike??? And how haven't I heard about this already?? I need the deets!

i'm so glad you asked :)

the original plan for season 3 was for sam to descend into using his demon powers to get dean out of the deal, and for dean to never go to hell. then the writers strike happened, the season got cut from 22 eps to 16, with only 4 after the strike, and that wasn't enough time to establish sam's spiral and powers, so changed the ending. it's on the wiki and there are some articles around about it

this was, in my opinion, the worst fucking decision they could make

it ruined the characters in a lot of ways and really unbalanced everything in a way the show never recovered from

the thing is that this arc is so well set up!

literally at the end of season 2 we get

"You're my big brother, there's nothing I wouldn't do for you. And I don't care, I'm going to get you out of this. I'm going to save your ass for a change."

sam has evaded azazel's every attempt to corrupt him. his shitty home life, all the demons he's exposed sam to, killing jessica, taking away his father, putting him in a literal life or death hunger games scenario. each time sam refuses to play ball

(sam's incorruptibility is what makes him qualified to be king of hell, but that's a different post)

he's the moral compass between him and dean. always has been. there is nothing in sam's messed up, twisted life that has pushed him pass mercy

but dean could do it. there's nothing sam wouldn't do for his big brother

john told dean that he had to either save sam or kill him. except he's never needed to save sam, because it's literally always sam making the measured, compassionate, merciful call. he's the one holding dean back, not the other way around

and sam straining towards darkness for the first time, for dean, would kill him. we'll come back to this

mystery spot, as an episode, is actually pointless if the plan was for dean to go to hell. because sam's sneak peek into what his life is like after dean doesn't do anything. i love this ep, but it's narratively pointless now

however

with the og plan, mystery spot is the turning point. it not only tells sam how miserable he'll be after dean is gone, but it also establishes what he's willing to do to get him back - pretty much anything. it's not theoretical pain, it's not theoretical grief. mystery spot is the thing that pushes sam towards being hard, away from the moral sweetness he's embodied for the past two and half seasons.

the next ep, jus in bello, shows this. sam is considering doing the terrible thing. he's now capable of considering the terrible thing in a way he wasn't before mystery spot. this is when his descent starts, when sam decides he's willing to trade his humanity for his brother's life

and then the writer's strike happened

right when it's getting good, right when sam's arc is ramping up, we lose it. and instead of picking it back up, pushing dean's deal to next season and giving it the weight it deserves, they say fuck it, and send dean to hell

but this fucks it all up. we have sam's "descent" with ruby and demon blood. except not really because he's not even hurting anyone. and dean's back, but not because of sam. sam didn't save him

this fucks it all up

because deans anger and fear and desire to save sam should have been tempered with the knowledge that he did that to save dean's life. that once more someone dean loves has made a terrible sacrifice for him, which he can't stand, which he hates. he has the self esteem of a gnat and the best people he knows keep destroying themselves for his benefit

i think the og build up was sam strengthening his powers to kill lilith, doing it, and then releasing lucifer at the end of s3. sam unwittingly starting the apocolypse to save his brother (does he regret it, dean wonders. it would be easier if he did)

and now everything is shit and dean's drowning but here and his brother has turned himself into something that's not unlike the kid dean loves so much it almost killed him, but not exactly the same. and now he understands john, because this is the sam that dean has to either save or kill, except he could never kill him. he loves him (and how can he kill sam for doing this when it's dean's fault, when dean made the deal that doomed his brother when all he wanted was to save him)

this is the flip that the show has been building towards. dean having to be the moral center for his brother for once. dean being the one saved. dean finally having to face his father's words and deciding once and for all if he's john's son or sam's brother

but instead dean goes to hell. and he's no one moral's center. because he broke in hell, he tortured people and he enjoyed it. they ruined dean with this. because instead of fighting and growing from his violence, they push him into it, and then they call him a righteous man. dean was the one harming people, he's the one that descended into darkness, not sam. sam and his demon blood had still only been trying to good, and in the end did do good, far more than anything dean did in hell, or has done since. his moral outrage, his anger, his disgust towards sam isn't only wildly out of character, it's hypocritical as hell. sam remains the moral, compassionate one, even through this. it never slides to dean. neither of them are really forced to grow or change, only to become twisted into each other in ways that hurt them both

this should have been the story of what sam would do to save his brother (anything) and what dean would do to save his brother (anything)

they should have saved each other

[youvebeengalindafied]

"Then I'll go and tell them! I'll tell everyone the truth!"' "No! They'll just turn against you!" "I don't care!" "But I do!" "El-" "Promise me that you won't try to clear my name." "But-" "Promise. Me." .

Stephanie J. Block (E) and Annaleigh Ashford (G), October 9, 2007

Dedicated to @hamletthedane and @myheartisbro-ken ' excellent commentary on SJB and AA's insane, intense chemistry and acting choices during their run. They basically spent three hours looking like they wanted to eat each other alive.

(Those last two gifs just break me every time.)

[guiltymepleasures]

Yes, yes, Baek Sa Eon totally whipped for his wife and being clingy and caring after that cliff fiasco is good and all.

BUT WHAT I NEED TO KNOW IS HOW HE WAS ABLE TO EXPLAIN TO EVERYONE WHY HE WAS LOSING HIS MIND LOOKING FOR THE NEW EMPLOYEE.

[bethanydelleman]

I'm watching a Chinese drama called Blossom right now and it's doing historical arranged marriage in such an interesting way and it's making me think more about my post about arranged marriage and particularly, what models of marriage has the female character seen growing up?

Because maybe part of why the Sad/Angry at arranged marriage princess/noble woman feels so hollow is because the mother is usually placidly sitting beside her husband pushing for marriage too. If your parents have a fine arranged marriage, what are you so worried about? It can come off more as a petulant kid than a real denunciation if we don't have indication that they really know what they're mad about or afraid of (Eloise Bridgerton...) Especially when they keep emphasizing how the girls are sheltered and ignorant, where did she manage to get this disillusioned?

This drama has so far shown three failed marriages, all unique. One marriage broke down because the husband was sexually assaulting female servants, another because after emotionally supporting her failure of a husband for 10 years, he took a second wife right after getting his dream job (that one felt so real), and the last woman accepted her marriage wouldn't have affection but was appalled when her husband cheated on her with her half-sister as it violated her sense of marital decency and respect.

What I really like the most is the characters mostly buy into, and all of them expect, marriage to be explicitly political. The whole mindset feels a lot more genuine to the time period. No one is Shocked Pikachu Face that they'll be asked to marry someone for family alliance reasons. And the anti-marriage female lead, she earned that opinion. She knows. She's haunted.

[soath]

shut up about killing the gods, shut up about killing the gods, the only character who deserves a handwritten apology from every civic leader in exandria and a basket of fruit is Miss Evoroa Bormodo. imagine having to listen to the rulers of your blue promise discuss slaughtering your entire world for the crime of existing in proximity to what is dangerous to them! angel you shouldn’t have had to grovel like that and make the case for your own civilization’s right to survive. the mvp of first contact, no one is doing it like her and no one should have to.

[sunlitmcgee]

say No to the supposed toxic yaoi of shipping a rapist abusive creep with a man who enabled him and was then tortured by him for several months.

Embrace, or at least consider, instead, the nuanced tenderness of a woman and a man, both hurt by the same monster, in a kinder ending, being able to heal their bodies from where he touched them. Regaining parts of themselves. Connecting and apologizing and healing alongside one another, growing into happy people who will live far beyond the events on that awful ship.

And have her peg him